NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 



usually compared to the wild laugh of a maniac, 

 which has given rise to the name often applied to 

 this creature, viz. the Laughing Hyaena. This 

 maniacal cry is invariably heard during the mating 

 season, or when these hyaenas are unduly excited 

 from some other cause. Nothing in the way of 

 flesh comes amiss to this large hulking beast. It 

 is a true scavenger, for it will devour flesh in even a 

 liquid state of putrefaction. Failing a supply of 

 carrion to satisfy its prodigious appetite, it resorts 

 to killing and devouring any living thing it is able 

 to surprise and overpower. It is a poor runner, 

 and therefore antelopes rarely fall a prey to it. It 

 steals upon game birds in the night, and should 

 flocks of migratory locusts, which are such a terrible 

 pest to man, be in the neighbourhood, they are 

 devoured by this animal in vast numbers. When 

 the sun sets these locusts are obliged to roost, for 

 the cool air partly paralyses them. When trees 

 are available they swarm upon them, but it is 

 seldom, except in forest regions, that they find 

 sufficient of this form of foliage, and consequently 

 they alight in millions upon the ground and low 

 bushes, and are thus within reach of prowling 

 hyaenas, jackals, and scores of other carnivorous 

 night prowlers. Of course, when in the wingless 

 stage of development, locusts are at the mercy of 

 animals day and night, and whole swarms are swept 

 out of existence by animals such as the Spotted 

 Hyaena. 



